If Only for a Moment
by half-a-recess
Summary: In her last moments she was so happy she could reflect upon that time and cherish the past...


**Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho, nor do I pretend to make any money from it. If I did, you would probably know me. **

**A/N: So before we begin, I would like to say that this story is a little more… **_**scandalous**_** than what I am used to writing. Also, being that it is only 1,352 words long, I can barely call it a one-shot. It is really more of a drabble. I wrote this a while ago and have been hanging on to it, debating on whether or not I really wanted it in my list of published stories. It's not my best writing, but this is such a rare scenario that I thought perhaps the readers of would enjoy a little variation from the norm. Please enjoy!**

**If Only For a Moment**

The window slid closed quietly behind Hiei as he entered the room fluidly, a shadow among shadows and just as silent. However he could not hide his presence from the one in the corner futon who shifted and turned slightly to regard him in the darkness.

"You heard me I see," Genkai's raspy voice greeted.

Hiei stepped closer, "I heard everyone has been saying their goodbyes, so I stayed in the area."

An exhale of breath. Her frail weathered hand, once strong, weakly lifted from within her blankets to beckon him closer. Hiei took the invitation and sat cross-legged, taking her hand that was still outstretched and running his thumb delicately along the back of it as if such actions could heal her. Alas, no amount of anyone's healing could save her now.

It was a while, in which Hiei thought the old martial arts master had fallen asleep surely, before Genkai finally spoke again.

"Do you remember all those years ago, Hiei?" she asked wistfully.

Hiei's thumb stopped in its ministrations, but he did not drop her hand. "You're going to be a sentimental old hag, then? Or perhaps you just wished to curse me one last time?"

Genkai laughed. It was whispering and thin, but it was a joyful laugh all the same. "No, I am just an old woman remembering."

Hiei did not reply, but Genkai expected as much.

She grabbed his hand lightly, and he let her. "To you, seventy or so years is nothing, but for humans it is a long time. Yet… I still remember that night so clearly…"

Hiei had not moved as she continued. It was only when he felt her grip tighten and her uneven breathing that he realized she had begun to cry. He leaned forward and made a noise as if to speak, but he could not find the words to comfort her if he did not know what he had done.

"Do you really think I'm an ugly old hag?" she asked him in a watery voice.

"I never took you to be so vain," Hiei replied, trying to lighten her spirit. It wasn't right to make a dying woman cry whether you meant to or not.

She sniffled some before calming and shivering some. "No, but I am very cold."

Genkai felt herself being lifted before her head was settled against a firm chest, a warm stomach cradling her back and Hiei's arms securing her there. Had she been more lively, she would have managed to be surprised. There was another long silence in which neither spoke, the rise and fall of Hiei's chest soothing her along with the steady thump of his core, almost like a human heart.

"Was I pretty then, though?" she asked quietly, feeling like a foolish girl for asking such a question.

"Beautiful," Hiei responded.

"Is that just something you're saying to me as a dying woman?" she asked, partially in jest.

Hiei sighed, Genkai rising and falling with the sigh. "Humans are ridiculous."

"Why didn't you turn me away?" she questioned.

"So you _are_ going to blame me for your own poor choice," Hiei said, though he was only half-serious.

"I thought Toguro didn't want me because I was a virgin," she said, staring ahead into the darkness as if to see her memories. "I was wrong."

She felt Hiei shrug. "I told you so."

"Did you do it for the money, then?"

"I had to eat," Hiei replied. "It was a lot of money."

They sat in silence for another long while.

"I never did sleep with anyone else," Genkai commented solemnly.

"It's not like I'm bad in bed," Hiei scoffed. "You don't have to go adding me to your list of regrets."

"I don't regret it," Genkai replied, surprising Hiei. "I ended up learning Toguro's true colors. I felt loved if only for a moment. I finally felt like a woman despite how much I was treated like a boy. I grew up and ended up doing many great things." She paused and laughed a little. "And had very good sex."

She could feel Hiei's smirk of amusement. "Worth the price?"

Genkai's response was another laugh. "I wouldn't know. I just told you that I never slept with anyone again."

"Ah, that good then?" he replied, extracting another laugh.

"You know, I loved you once," she admitted after a long silence.

Hiei frowned, but he let her continue.

"In fact, I searched for you, but you were long gone of course. It had been years," she told him. "I know it was foolish to search for someone who does not love you back, and it was even more foolish to pretend that a whore would remember your name out of the many others."

"Then perhaps it is best you never found me," Hiei said softly.

"Ah, but I didn't have to," Genkai smiled. "We eventually met again through fate."

"I—" Hiei tried.

"I know you don't love me, Hiei," Genkai said understandingly. "And I'm not asking you to. All I'm asking is that you stay with me until I go. It's a part of human nature to fear death and to wish to be close to someone in the hour that you are called…"

Hiei sighed, but he rested his chin on the top of her head and tightened his arms around her a little when he felt her shiver despite the warmth of the room. True, he did not love her, but he would not leave her alone. They had at least become friends, had they not? They had fought in the Dark Tournament together as comrades, and they had shared many private chats away from prying eyes. So he would respect her wishes, however foolish they might seem, and send her off as a friend. If she had felt loved in that moment all of those years ago, then he would let her. She had asked him before and he had told her honestly that that night they had shared a bed had meant nothing to him. In fact, it had taken him a while to remember actually sleeping with her in the first place. To him she had been just another customer, despite her rising to fame in the Dark Tournament not so long afterward.

Genkai breathed in Hiei's scent, enveloping her like a warm blanket and settling around her. He smelled the same even after all of these years, and she noticed that when she shivered he instinctively raised his youki in an attempt to provide warmth to her. She smiled a little. Surely with all of his exposure to death he knew that her chill was not something that could be cured by normal means. He had not had physical contact with her since they met again, but his arms holding her still felt familiar. It felt like that night that he had held her close as she fell asleep, even if she had awakened the next morning to find herself alone.

This time though, Hiei would remain with her until her end. He stayed with her until he felt her stop breathing in a long exhale. Until he heard her heart stop pumping life through her veins. Until she grew cold despite his youki surrounding them. And he stayed long afterwards, until the sun broke across the horizon. It was only when he knew others would be waking soon that he laid her gently back on her futon. Before leaving he regarded her for a moment, the woman who had loved him all of these years for no reason at all. He could see past the age lines, past her hardened features to the young beautiful woman he had met all of those years ago. When Yukina entered Genkai's bedroom to check on her, it was to find only her lonely body in a cold, empty room. The only evidence of the phantom who had visited her in the night was a single blue-purple jewel that hung around her neck.

**END**

**Please R&R!**


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